This invention relates to osteogenic devices, to genes encoding proteins which can induce osteogenesis in mammals and methods for their production using recombinant DNA techniques, to synthetic forms of osteogenic protein, to a method of reproducibly purifying osteogenic protein from mammalian bone, to matrix materials which act as a carrier to induce osteogenesis in mammals, and to bone and cartilage repair procedures using the osteogenic device.
Mammalian bone tissue is known to contain one or more proteinaceous materials, presumably active during growth and natural bone healing, which can induce a developmental cascade of cellular events resulting in endochondral bone formation. This active factor (or factors) has variously been referred to in the literature as bone morphogenetic or morphogenic protein, bone inductive protein, osteogenic protein, osteogenin, or osteoinductive protein.
The developmental cascade of bone differentiation consists of chemotaxis of mesenchymal cells, proliferation of progenitor cells, differentiation of cartilage, vascular invasion, bone formation, remodeling, and finally marrow differentiation (Reddi (1981) Collagen Rel. Res. 1: 209-226).
Though the precise mechanisms underlying these phenotypic transformations are unclear, it has been shown that the natural endochondral bone differentiation activity of bone matrix can be dissociatively extracted and reconstituted with inactive residual collagenous matrix to restore full bone induction activity (Sampath and Reddi, (1981) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 21: 7599-7603). This provides an experimental method for assaying protein extracts for their ability to induce endochondral bone in vivo.
This putative bone inductive protein has been shown to have a molecular mass of less than 50 kilodaltons (kD). Several species of mammals produce closely related protein as demonstrated by cross species implant experiments (Sampath and Reddi (1983) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80: 6591-6595).
The potential utility of these proteins has been widely recognized. It is contemplated that the availability of the pure protein would revolutionize orthopedic medicine, certain types of plastic surgery, and various periodontal and craniofacial reconstructive procedures.
The observed properties of these protein fractions have induced an intense research effort in various laboratories directed to isolating and identifying the pure factor or factors responsible for osteogenic activity. The current state of the art of purification of osteogenic protein from mammalian bone is disclosed by Sampath et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1987) 80). Urist et al. (Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. (1984) 17: 194-199) disclose a human osteogenic protein fraction which was extracted from demineralized cortical bone by means of a calcium chloride-urea inorganic-organic solvent mixture, and retrieved by differential precipitation in guanidine-hydrochloride and preparative gel electrophoresis. The authors report that the protein fraction has an amino acid composition of an acidic polypeptide and a molecular weight in a range of 17-18 kD.
Urist et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1984) 11: 371-375) disclose a bovine bone morphogenetic protein extract having the properties of an acidic polypeptide and a molecular weight of approximately 18 kD. The authors reported that the protein was present in a fraction separated by hydroxyapatite chromatography, and that it induced bone formation in mouse hindquarter muscle and bone regeneration in trephine defects in rat and dog skulls. Their method of obtaining the extract from bone results in ill-defined and impure preparations.
European Patent Application Serial No. 148,155, published Oct. 7, 1985, purports to disclose osteogenic proteins derived from bovine, porcine, and human origin. One of the proteins, designated by the inventors as a P3 protein having a molecular weight of 22-24 kD, is said to have been purified to an essentially homogeneous state. This material is reported to induce bone formation when implanted into animals.
International Application No. PCT/087/01537, published Jan. 14, 1988, discloses an impure fraction from bovine bone which has bone induction qualities. The named applicants also disclose putative bone inductive factors produced by recombinant DNA techniques. Four DNA sequences were retrieved from human or bovine genomic or cDNA libraries and apparently expressed in recombinant host cells. While the applicants stated that the expressed proteins may be bone morphogenic proteins, bone induction was not demonstrated, suggesting that the recombinant proteins are not osteogenic. See also Urist et al., EP 0,212,474 entitled Bone Morphogenic Agents.
Wang et al. (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA (1988) 85: 9484-9488) discloses the purification of a bovine bone morphogenetic protein from guanidine extracts of demineralized bone having cartilage and bone formation activity as a basic protein corresponding to a molecular weight of 30 kD determined from gel elution. Purification of the protein yielded proteins of 30, 18 and 16 kD which, upon separation, were inactive. In view of this result, the authors acknowledged that the exact identity of the active material had not been determined.
Wozney et al. (Science (1988) 242: 1528-1534) discloses the isolation of full-length cDNA's encoding the human equivalents of three polypeptides originally purified from bovine bone. The authors report that each of the three recombinantly expressed human proteins are independently or in combination capable of inducing cartilage formation. No evidence of bone formation is reported.
It is an object of this invention to provide osteogenic devices comprising matrices containing dispersed osteogenic protein capable of bone induction in allogenic and xenogenic implants. Another object is to provide a reproducible method of isolating osteogenic protein from mammalian bone tissue. Another object is to characterize the protein responsible for osteogenesis. Another object is to provide natural and recombinant osteogenic proteins capable of inducing endochondral bone formation in mammals, including humans. Yet another object is to provide genes encoding native and non-native osteogenic proteins and methods for their production using recombinant DNA techniques. Another object is to provide novel biosynthetic forms of osteogenic proteins and a structural design for novel, functional osteogenic proteins. Another object is to provide a suitable deglycosylated collagenous bone matrix as a carrier for osteogenic protein for use in zenogenic implants. Another object is to provide methods for inducing cartilage formation.
These and other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims which follow.